Michigan ‘twin towers’ have Bruce Pearl’s attention – ‘These two guys are special’
Michigan is a significant underdog tonight against an Auburn team that was the class of the SEC this year, in a conference more than pulling its weight in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The path to the championship appears to lead through either one of its league’s teams or Duke, which means U-M the Wolverines have their work cut out for them tonight.
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The last time a Bruce Pearl team faced Michigan in the tournament, John Beilein and the Wolverines crushed Pearl’s Tennessee team, 75-45, in 2011. Pearl was out as coach after the biggest margin of defeat in a No. 8 vs. No. 9 seed in tournament history.
This year, he’s got a team many feel can win it all. He knows, though, that it won’t be easy.
“This weekend we’ve got a four-team tournament against Michigan, Michigan State, and Ole Miss,” Pearl said. “Michigan is as good as anybody in this field. They are. And I told our guys, I felt like Creighton [who they beat in the round of 32] could be in this group very easily. They made 4 out of the last 5 Sweet 16s, and I told our guys, if we can beat Creighton, when we get to Atlanta, there’s not going to be anything there that’s going to be beyond overwhelm us, or maybe even the Final Four.
“If we’re good enough to beat Creighton, if we’re good enough to beat Michigan … and of course, the survive and advance thing, I think that’s really true for the first and second round for a 1 seed. It is about survive and advance for the top seeds. But you get to this point, we feel like we’re playing for a National Championship now, and we have four times we’re going to have to do it. That’s how I feel. You don’t feel like you’re playing for the National Championship in the first and second round.”
Every team left in the field has a legit chance of beating the other, and that includes Michigan vs Auburn. The Wolverines will need outstanding play from their big men, Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf, against a big Tigers frontcourt, but it works the other way, too.
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“I haven’t seen this since I watched [Kevin] McHale and [Robert] Parish [with the 1980s Boston Cetlics], right?” Pearl said. “These two guys are special. Goldin, in the Big Ten, he was the best player on the floor almost every single night, and Wolf … there’s not another 7-footer in college basketball that resembles him. He’s got Larry Bird type ball handling, passing, feel. He’s just a gifted, gifted player. Obviously ,they work beautifully together.
“They’re going up against Dylan Cardwell and Johni Broome and Chaney Johnson. Those three guys are going to be the focus of our defensive attack. Our ability to defend those two guys as well as No. 42 [Will Tschetter] who comes off the bench and shoots it a little bit for them, is going to be really the difference in the outcome.”
That, and the coaching matchup. Several coaches we’ve spoken to in Atlanta have talked about Michigan head coach Dusty May and the job he’s done in year one. Pearl also took notice.
“How good of a hire was Dusty May for Michigan?” he said. “How good of a hire was that?”
Michigan fans know, and so does the rest of the Big Ten. If the Wolverines somehow pull this one out, his star only gets brighter … and the Wolverines would be off the Elite Eight. The big guys will play a big role, but it will take a team effort.
